Part 3
In the previous articles we have explained the importance of
the ascending and descending order of the Alef Beis, and the
significance of the At Bash alphabetic structure.
Rav Saadia Gaon explained how both the twenty-two and twenty-
seven letter alphabets proclaim Yimloch Hashem in
their own specific and unique way. The difference between the
twenty-two letter alphabet and the twenty-seven letter one
are the five 'final' letters which are referred to by their
acronym Mantzpach. This stands for the five final letters:
Mem, Nun, Tzadi, Pei, and Chof, which take on a
different form when they occur at the end of a letter. Pirkei
DeRabbi Eliezer refers to this MANTZPACH alphabet
which is made up of the five final letters, as the alphabet
of Redemption. It is for this reason that these letters
always appear at the end of a word, as redemption is the
final stage, at the end of each exile.
If we examine the order that these five letters appear in the
acronym MANTZPACH, we find that they do not appear to
follow any specific order. We would have expected the final
two letters Pei and Chof to appear earlier in
the sequence, if the word MANTZPACH follows an
ascending order.
Of all the verses that we use in our siddur, there is
only one that does not actually appear in Tanach but
is compiled from three different sources. This is the verse,
`Hashem melech, Hashem moloch, Hashem yimloch le'olom
vo'ed.' The numerical value of each of the words
melech and moloch equals ninety, whereas the
word yimloch has a numerical value of one hundred.
This corresponds to the order of the letters of
MANTZPACH, as the numerical value of the first two
letters, the Mem and Nun, is ninety and thereby
corresponds to the phrase, Hashem melech. The middle
letter Tzadi also has a numerical value of ninety and
it thereby corresponds to Hashem moloch. The final two
letters Pei and Chof have a combined numerical
value of one hundred and thereby they correspond to Hashem
yimloch. Thus the alphabet of the final letters of
MANTZPACH proclaims the complete history of the world,
in both its present, past and future state.
The Ben Ish Chai analyzes the order of the MANTZPACH
alphabetic structure and explains why the letters Pei
and Chof are specially chosen to represent
Hashem yimloch, that ultimate state of the world, when
the whole of mankind will acknowledge Hashem. He explains
that the first three letters, Mem, Nun and Tzadi
are pronounced the same in both the normal, intraword
letter and final letter alphabets. They only differ in their
shape.
In contrast, the final two letters Pei and Chof
differ in both their written shape and in the way they
are pronounced as they can be written with or without
dogesh. The letter Pei can be read as a Pei
or Phei, and the letter Chof can be either
Chof or Kof.
The letter Pei translates as "mouth" and thus
represents the Torah in both its written and oral forms. The
letter Chof translates as "the palm of the hand"
— which is used to perform the Torah commandments.
Therefore the letters Pei and Chof represent,
respectively, both the written and oral Torah, and the
performance of its mitzvos.
In the merit of the Torah and the adherence to its mitzvos we
will merit to proclaim yimloch Hashem with the arrival
of Moshiach.
In the complete Alef Beis, there are another three
letters which have alternative pronunciations depending
whether they are spelled with or without a dogesh.
These are the letters Beis, which is pronounced
either as Beis or Veis, the letter Shin,
which is either articulated as Shin or Sin,
and the final letter Tov which is pronounced as Tov
or Sov. These three letters spell out the word
Shabbos.
The letters Chof and Pei represent, as we said
earlier, the ultimate aim of creation in the form of the
universal proclamation Hashem yimloch, which will be
brought about by the Jewish Nation observing Shabbos. This
message is clearly spelled out by these five letters of the
alphabet which have alternative pronunciations when spelled
with or without the Dogesh.
This material is extracted from the unpublished book,
Understanding the Alef Beis.
